Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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The Cherubim and the Shulchan

G-d continues with giving instructions regarding the construction of the Mishkan and its vessels:

They are to make a lid for the ark with two "Churibim*" (i.e. images of children), one on either end of the lid.

*Side note: The word Cherub (i.e. כרוב) is related to the Aramaic word כרביא which means "like a chid".

These should both be made out of pure gold and from one slab (i.e the lid and the cherubim should not be made separately and then welded together). This should be done by taking a large enough gold slab for both of them and then beat it down in the middle so there are protrusions on either side to mold the cherubim out of.

The lid itself should be the same length and width as the ark (2.5x1.5 amos). This lid was made 1 tefach* thick.

*Side note: A tefach literally means a "handsbreath" and is variously measured to be between 3-4 inches. One Amah (usually translated as "cubit") is usually measured as 6 tefachim (though sometimes, 5).

The Cherubim should be made facing one another, with wings raised high and spread out, next to their heads, protecting their wings. The space between the wings and the lid was 10 tefachim*.

*Side note: How can we understand the reasoning behind these Churubim being 10 tefachim tall (when measured from their base on the lid to the top of their wings?) Although the Beis HaMikdash was significantly bigger than the Mishkan, the proportions were identical. We learn from Melachim 1 7:2 that the Beis HaMikdash was 30 amos tall and its Cherubim were 10 amos high off the ground, making them reach one third of the height of the building. By contrast, the Mishkan (see Shmos 26:16) was only 10 amos tall (i.e 60 tefachim). Thus we can conclude that the Cherubim of the Mishkan were at the height of 20 tefachim (1/3 the total height of the Mishkan). Seeing as the Aron was 1.5 amos tall (i.e. 9 tefachim) + the lid was another tefach, the actual Cherubim were 20-9-1= 10 tefachim tall.

The "Testimony" should be placed in the ark before closing the ark's lid. I.e. you should not close the lid and then re-open it to put in the Testimony.

G-d tells Moshe that He will communicate with Moshe regarding the Israelites from between the two Cherubim on top of the lid of the ark. G-d will call out to him from anywhere to arrange the meeting, and Moshe will go to the Tent of Meeting (Ohel Moed) to receive what is being communicated, however the communication itself will come from this space on top of the ark*.

*Side note: The Tent of Meeting was located in a part of the Mishkan that was on the outer side of the Paroches partition vs the Ark was on the inside of it.

G-d then instructs to make a table out of the shittim wood. The table should be two amos long, one amos wide and 1.5 amos high (this is referring to the total height of the table; from the bottom of the legs till the top of the table - not just the thickness of the tabletop as one might assume). It should be covered in gold.

A frame should be made to surround the table. Some commentators say that this frame was meant to be on top of the table, surrounding its edges. According to this view, the frame was attached to the tabletop. Some however understood it to be below it, connecting the table's legs to one another (so four parts in total). This seems to be Rashi's view based on his commentary about the attachment of the rings (below). According to this second view, the tabletop was not attached to the frame.

There should be a crown surrounding the table*, coming out from the frame**, symbolizing the regal wealth and greatness that the table was meant to express.

*Side note: Some commentaries thought that there were two crowns, one to surround the table and one to surround the frame. Rashi however understands that these were the same one crown.

**Side note: According to the opinion that the frame was below the tabletop, this crown protruded upwards high enough so that it came up around the tabletop as well.

G-d says that they should make four golden rings to be attached to legs of the table, at its four corners, at the height of the table's frame (assuming the frame was beneath the tabletop).

They should make four poles out of shittim wood, covered in gold. These four poles should be inserted into the rings that have been attached to the table, and it is with these four poles that the table will be carried.

There were four more things that needed to be made as accessories to the table:

1)Molding vessels for the showbread (there are different interpretations as to what the exact shape these molds and thus the bread actually were). Rashi says that they were shaped like a V shaped box of sorts, with two sides totally open. The other two sides could be bent upwards to form walls, which is why, according to Rashi, this bread was called "Showbread" or literally "bread of the face", because it had "walls that faced the sides of the temple in either direction. The bread was placed lengthwise across the width of the table.

Each loaf had two molds - one gold and one iron. It was baked in the iron one, and then on Friday, after taking it out of the oven, it would be placed in the gold one until Shabbos day.

These loaves were arranged into two stacks of six loaves each.

2)"Spoons" should be made to hold frankincense.

According to Rabbi Yehuda and Rashi, the loaves took up the entire table, these spoons were placed a top each stack of bread. According to Rabbi Meir there was a space of two tefachim between each stack and that is where the spoons were places. Either way, there were two spoons.

3)Tubes - These were like hollow half reeds split lengthwise, made from gold. Three tubes would be placed on top of each loaf of bread to allow for some air to pass between the loaves and preserve them from getting moldy.

4)Supports - These were tall golden rods that stood on the ground and rose to the height of the stacks of bread. Each branch had five notches (some editions of Rashi say they had six) into which the above mentioned tubes would be wedged into for support, thus there were six of these support rods in total (as each loaf had three tubes on top of it and there were two stacks of loaves). This was to ensure that the loaves did not weigh heavily one on top of the other.

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